Harpy

Harpy
Perched Harpy, Blurred
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fābula
Division:	Assecula
Class:	Foemina
Order:	Pitinnae
Family:	Pinnae
Genus:	Harpyiae
Species:	H. Umbrae
Binomial name
Harpyiae Umbrae

The Harpy is perhaps the second most widespread sapient species native to Aquitinia, behind only Mermaids. Their light weight and swift flying speed allows them to reach many lands other Aquitinian species do not even think of, and their near-supernatural ability to cope with filth and disease means that they rarely are unable to find food.

Like Mermaids, harpies can come in different varieties. However, these are much less disparate from one another than mermaid forms are, having a more consistent size range. They primarily differ in the style of feathers that they possess, with the common harpy being crowlike.

Harpies are nearly obligate carnivores, preferring to consume meat, but also willing to filch dairy. However, few Aquitinians mistake them for obligate carnivores as they are extremely well known for their love of bread. Harpies are also capable of consuming other grain based products, but are not as known for that. Some Aquitinians enjoy feeding the more docile feral harpies.

Etymology

Harpies are commonly mistaken as having gotten their name from the nuisance they cause, being associated with the term “harping”. However, their name has far more archaic origins, deriving from an ancient word that had to do with “snatching”. This is mostly likely due to the tendency common harpies have towards theft, usually done in a hit-and-run manner. In the case of more dangerous harpies, some researchers propose that the term may have been more euphemistically, referring to the lives of unaware people being snatched away.

Modern Living

When combined with their tendency to consume sapients, harpies have earned a reputation for being a dirty species.

Biology

Physiology

Harpies possess two birdlike legs, each of which has three larger toes and one smaller one. Some harpies possess immense blades for claws, but some do not, such as the crowlike harpies, which instead have feet designed to grasp objects and ledges. Harpies also possess two wings, which are where the arms of a human would be. Interestingly, their feathers do not go up to their shoulders, ending just a bit before them. Besides their limbs and wings, the only other easily noticeable surface level detail of harpies is their tail plumage.

Internally, however, there are far more differences. Harpies possess a number of special abilities that allow them to excel both as scavengers and hunters. Harpies have incredible vision, able to easily pick out hidden targets from high in the sky. Harpies are known for getting so locked onto a target that they incur tunnel vision, and are more easily ambushed by attackers that they should otherwise have easily noticed coming.

Harpies also possess robust health. They have slight regenerative abilities, though these are not fast enough to take effect in battle. Rather, their regeneration allows them to recover from wounds that would otherwise have been crippling, such as broken bones. Harpies are also extremely resilient when it comes to diseases and toxins. Harpies regularly are known to consume rotting flesh, drink oil tainted water, and generally thrive on lifestyles that would kill most other species extremely quickly.

Reproduction and Maturation

Harpies are parasitical reproducers, meaning that they need to find a member of the opposite sex within a different species to reproduce. In the case of harpies, they lack males, so they have to scavenge them from other species. Harpies most commonly pair with Boreads and humans.

Keeping in line with other Aquitinian species, harpies are ovoviviparous, both producing and hatching their eggs within their own bodies. Due to the small size of harpies, and the relatively large size of their young, most give birth to only one or two young, with harpies generally struggling to carry even two eggs if they contain the male offspring of a larger species.

Like other parasitical Aquitinia species, the male young grow up at the same rate as they would have if born from their own species. Harpies tend to grow up fast enough to fly on their own by two years old, though most do not fly far until they are ten. Harpies can reproduce by the time they are sixteen, being one of the fastest maturing Aquitinian species. Their faster development rate is believed by many biologists to be designed to counteract their lower than average brood size, as well as their generally more dangerous lifestyle.

Consumption

Harpies are mostly carnivorous, preferring to consume flesh, be it from mammals, birds, fish, or basically anything else they can skewer with their claws and fit down their throats. Despite this, harpies are not actually obligate carnivores, not only capable of consuming bread but actually loving it, on top of their normal diet of flesh. They also are known to consume dairy, usually after knocking over a pail of milk or snatching a wheel of cheese. Harpies are known to sometimes eat people, though most city harpies do not.